Variation by travel time or day

Many urban passenger transport systems offer discounted travel outside the periods of peak demand, or sometimes for any travel after the morning peak; concessionary fares may also only be valid at such times. Similarly travel at the weekend or on public holidays may be offered at a lower price, or special offers be made for group travel at these times.

In such cases, the intention is to generate sufficient extra patronage through utilizing any spare capacity so as to increase total revenues without adding significantly to costs. Services can be priced against their marginal cost of production, as the fixed costs of the system need to be recovered from the peak operation that defines their scale.